If you’ve had fun reading about Steve Spangler’s science adventures in this blog, you should check out his extensive experiment library. SteveSpanglerScience.com offers hundreds of ever-changing, ever-growing free experiments!
From floating, growing Ivory Soap to finding the iron in a dollar bill, you are sure to find just the right experiment that uses materials you have right in your home. This library represents all of Steve’s most amazing, most requested experiments from his 9NEWS television segment as well as other appearances throughout his career.
The kids are home from school and are already saying, “We’re bored!” Here are some science activities that celebrate the season while the kids are home and looking for entertainment.
Borax Christmas Tree Ornaments All you need is a little borax, food coloring, string, a jar and pipe cleaners to make these beautiful snowflakes that won’t melt.
Grow Your Own Newspaper Tree Use a few sheets of recycled newspaper and some heavy duty scissors to make a growing magic Christmas tree.
Do you want to be a science magician? You need a little know-how and a little practice to impress your audience with the Appearing Egg Trick.
Show your audience a handkerchief and tell them you will make it disappear before their eyes. Stuff the handkerchief into your hand. When it is completely out of sight, unveil that the handkerchief is now … an egg!
Where did the handkerchief go? It’s in your pocket now, of course.
How did you do that? First, poke a hole in a raw egg and blow out the insides. Then carefully make a small hole on one side of the egg. Put the egg in your hand and make sure your fingers cover it. Don’t let your audience see the egg. Put a second, duplicate handkerchief in your pocket.
Carefully stuff the handkerchief into the hidden egg in your hand. When
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Do you prefer a real tree or a fake tree for Christmas? Or do you just go with a recycled newspaper tree instead?
To make this incredibly tall and thin unique tree, take eight pages out of the newspaper and tape them end to end. Roll them all up into a tube. Using very strong and sturdy scissors, make several cuts from the top of the tube to about halfway down. Now reach in and start pulling the paper upward. The tree will start to grow and grow and grow.
Grab the tinsel, the lights and a few ornaments and you’ve got yourself one unique Christmas tree for all to admire.
Are you looking for a fun indoor activity that uses both creativity and science? Make these beautiful Crystal Snowflakes to decorate your tree using a little kitchen science.
Using a pair of scissors, cut a pipe cleaner into three equal sections.
Twist the three pipe cleaner sections together at their centers to form a six-sided snowflake. Don’t stress if the sides aren’t perfectly even, little imperfections make it beautiful.
Make sure that the shape can fit through the mouth of the wide-mouthed jar without having to squeeze through. If it can’t, trim the sides down.
Cut a 4″ length of string to one side of the snowflake. Tie the other end of the string to a pencil. You want the length of your string to be enough that the snowflake hangs into the jar but doesn’t touch the bottom. Once you have your length set, remove
What do you get when you combine water, cornstarch, an amplifier and a speaker? (Besides a mess.) You make cornstarch monsters.
Depending on the frequency played through the speaker and the vibrations it makes, the cornstarch will move and dance. Cornstarch is a non-Newtonian fluid which means it becomes a solid when it is under stress and a liquid when it flows. The trick is to find the right frequency that makes the best vibrations to move the cornstarch. You can actually see the sound.
This is a fun activity to take to a friend’s house and borrow their stereo equipment. For more on Cornstarch Monsters, read the experiment.
